New Zealand won the game in the third quarter. It was because when they are on the front foot their contact and support work is so much better and more accurate than England’s. They have an innate awareness and they are so good at having a player in the pocket behind the ball carrier. They do not have to make risky offloads because someone is not quite there, as Billy Twelvetrees did in the second half when he could not find Tom Wood and New Zealand turned the ball over to run away and score.

When England are on the front foot, they just do not off-load as well. In the first half they really caused New Zealand problems with their front-line attacks. They had width on those attacks and they were making many more line breaks than the home side.

But once the player has made the line break, the support is critical. Twelvetrees was an example in the first half. He made a lovely break in the outside channel, but there was just no one on his shoulder.

That is the next stage for England now. They are getting a lot right. They scored three tries, which takes some doing in a Test in New Zealand. The first-phase attack is good. They now need to get two or three support players with the attacker, and to be so close that the off-load carries a 90 per cent chance of succeeding.

In my view rugby union is not really a 15-man game, it is a three or four-man game, focusing on the ball carrier plus two or three support players. If that group gets it right, then you bring in another three or four-man group that are ready to play off the support players or the possession they have won.

Even when Manu Tuilagi ran 60 metres downfield at the end of the first half, England should have supported better. Mike Brown ran away from him. What he should have done was keep his running line parallel with Tuilagi, and then very late come in on him so they might have had a two-on-one on Ben Smith. That sort of thing is the difference between the sides. New Zealand do not miss those opportunities.

Kicking

England’s kicking out of hand was simply not accurate enough. Sometimes you just need to know when the forwards have been under pressure for a long enough period that they just want the ball to be kicked out so that they can take a breather and start again.

There were two long phases of play, one towards the end of the first half and then an even longer one in the second half. That one in the second half led to a try when Marland Yarde put in a poor kick which looked even poorer because there were not the players in place to have a strong defensive line and close the space down.

England gave New Zealand some very easy possession, and Danny Care will be disappointed with a couple of kicks that went straight out. It was obvious that full-back Ben Smith, who was outstanding, was going to run everything back but England allowed him too much space. You must make sure the right person is kicking so you then have the right kick-chase line in position.

New Zealand have obviously worked very hard on that. Ben Smith never kicked it straight back to England. They would maybe go one or two breakdowns up to halfway, and then kick. Of course, they kicked, as they always do. It was just that they were very cute about when they did it.

The breakdown

Often England’s ball carriers go to ground too early and the players arriving next at the breakdown almost flop down on top of the carrier. New Zealand’s carriers tend to keep on their feet as long as possible and when they do go to ground, the players arriving target the England players at the breakdown and try to drive through the ball. If that is done correctly, you are on the front foot and you are getting quick and accurate ball. For me New Zealand are the only team in the world that goes through phase play and get quicker as they do so. Most teams either stay at the same pace or get slower.

There was one superb counter-ruck from New Zealand in the first half, led by captain Richie McCaw. New Zealand make good decisions in an instant. They do not commit heavily to the breakdown generally, but when they see an opportunity they flood the numbers in. That is what they did here and they duly turned the ball over.

Also, when McCaw was held up over the line from three pick-and-drives, you wondered how on earth they had managed that, but it was because their contact technique was so good. The leg drive of every carrier was so powerful and the body angle was so low. On those three occasions the New Zealander’s shoulders were below those of the England defenders, but they did not go to ground. England’s forwards really need to keep working on their body angles.

Counter attack

New Zealand get players back very quickly to help the full-back. There was one instance when Ben Smith was caught in his own 22 but he had three or four players back to help him.

England tend only to have one player back helping Brown, so that, with New Zealand’s good kick-chase, they were often outnumbered. In that third quarter England kicked poorly and New Zealand were getting players in the right positions.

Obviously the selection of Tuilagi on the wing impacted upon this, and I don’t think England would want to play him there again.

Playing on the wing seems to marginalise his impact and he does not naturally turn and recover his position quickly leaving Brown with less support.

I would bring in Chris Ashton but stress to him that he must keep his width. When he last played for England their attack often got narrow because he was always following the ball. That is admirable in terms of work rate but it often did not give them the option of the wide attack.

The big decision for Stuart Lancaster now is his two centres. Billy Twelvetrees’ distribution was good, but he missed tackles.

In fact I thought that England’s first-up tackling was poor yesterday, even if their scramble defence was excellent. But I would go with Twelvetrees and Tuilagi.